That winter, the father who had been her only family never lived to see the snow stop.
Wei Yu thought he wouldn’t survive. The weather was bitterly cold, and he had neither clothes nor food.
As fists rained down on him, he heard a woman order them to stop. A noblewoman stood before him, backlit. He lifted his head, and at last, a warm winter came into his life.
The first time Jiang Ruzhao saw Wei Yu, the young man was dressed in black. The mark between his brows and the tiny mole beneath his eye lent him an air of mystery.
Beneath the summer sunset, she heard him say, “Your subordinate, Wei Yu, is the eldest princess’s hidden guard.”
From that moment on, he became her only hidden guard.
That spring, her father told her that the Western Dynasty had sent envoys to demand their surrender.
At this critical moment, the Qitu tribe also proposed a marriage alliance to join forces against the Western Dynasty. Chu was weak and unable to stand against a mighty power. How long could it endure amid the treacherous, ever-shifting rivalries among the nations?
As the eldest princess, it was only right for her to ease her country’s and her father’s burdens.
Jiang Ruzhao couldn’t bring herself to look into Wei Yu’s sorrowful, restrained eyes. The night before she was to marry into the Qitu tribe, Chu’s city gates were breached.
Flames blazed everywhere, and screams rang out without end.
With no one else to turn to, the ruler of Chu personally appointed Wei Yu. He accepted the charge in the nation’s hour of peril, but he was outnumbered and gravely wounded...
